GALESBURG — Years of delayed state payments are finally forcing a juvenile detention center in Galesburg to look at reducing service or closing its doors.

At a recent budget meeting, members of the Knox County Finance Committee said the Mary Davis Home’s finances have grown so dire that the county might need to consider a significant reduction in services or even close.

The state has owed Mary Davis almost $5 million for more than a year, with much of it owed from 2005 or earlier. Nobody within the county government believes it will see that money, but that doesn’t change the immediate problems getting the facility through another year of budget deficits.

The state is supposed to pay 58 percent of the center’s budget, county Treasurer Robin Davis said. This year, state funds made up 26 percent of the budget.

Making next year’s budgeting process more difficult is the fact that the county has little idea of what the state will pay for in the coming year. The county has covered $1.7 million of the state’s share, primarily by shifting money from accounts and borrowing from county entities that earn profit, like the landfill the county operates.

“I hate to say it, but I really think we’re at the tipping point with the Mary Davis Home,” Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Jefferson said. “I’d hate to lose all the jobs.”

Committee members said either a significant reduction in the number of juveniles it houses, or shutting down the facility, might be the only remaining courses of action.

The center houses minors with varying degrees of legal trouble. It also is the detention center for 16 west-central Illinois counties, including Rock Island, Mercer, Henry, Fulton and Warren.

Mary Davis charges $115 a day for the service. There has been talk of upping the per diem for housing out-of-county juveniles to $140, but county officials are worried that raising the prices would mean losing kids to the Peoria detention center and others.

Also, raising the cost to other counties would not solve the budget problem, which is driven largely by the state’s delayed payments.

“If the state was paying what was appropriated, we would be fine,” Davis said.

One idea touted is to close the home to outside juveniles, reduce its 35-person staff and bring down costs. New state law classifies juveniles as being 17 and younger, so rooms occupied by out-of-towners might be needed for local kids.

In 2012, the center received $807,000 from other counties. Since 2002, it has averaged 32 residents; its maximum is 39. The ratio is about 2-to-1 in favor of juveniles from outside Knox County.

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County officials say closure might not have a positive effect on the overall budget. By law, juveniles cannot be housed in jails with adults. That means that the Sheriff’s Department would have to drive kids to either Champaign or Rockford.

Within 72 hours of the first transportation, a deputy would have to bring the juvenile back to Galesburg for court, Sheriff David Clague said. The amount of driving would cost the department in personnel hours as well as vehicle costs, a tab that could run about $2 million a year.

“There’s a huge expense with not having the Mary Davis Home,” he said.

About this series

Reporters from GateHouse Illinois newsrooms examine the real-world effects of the state’s failure to pay its bills.

By the numbers

$5,065,078,108.47* in general fund backlog as of Sept. 15.

74,228: Total bills delayed.

*This figure only accounts for unpaid bills received by the comptroller’s office. The figure is much higher when including bills that have been sent to state agencies, but are yet to be forwarded to the comptroller for processing.